Buckwheat Pikelets

Ingredients:
1 pack of Orgran Buckwheat Pancake mix
450 mL filtered water
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 carrot, grated
1 zucchini, grated
1/2 cup slivered almonds

Method:
This is a very easy snack to prepare.  Combine the pancake mix, water and oil together and mix well.
Add the other ingredients and combine.
Spoon the mixture onto a heated, oiled frying pan
Allow to cook for awhile until bubbles form, flip over and cook the other side.

Serves 4-6 people
Serve warm with hummus and avocado
Decadent treat: serve warm with soy cream cheese

Recipe Copyright Leigh-Chantelle & Viva la Vegan!

If you would like to share this recipe please include a link to vivalavegan.net

Vegan/Vegetarian Survey - Monday 15th February

My friend Rico, who used to be a committee member of the Vegetarian and Vegan Society of Queensland, has put in a HUGE amount of effort if a new survey just released today.

Newspoll Sydney radomly selected 1202 people to find out how many Australians are vegan or vegetarian along with what these people's attitudes to animals are.  Voiceless helped fund the survey and it's been a labour of love for Rico.   I am one of the media spokespeople for this press release.

See the full document here: http://www.scribd.com/vvsq

The positive aspects:

99% of people surveyed are AGAINST animal cruelty

86% believe keeping laying hens in cages for their entire lives is unacceptable

74% think castrating animals without anaesthetic is unacceptable

72% say killing male chicks in egg production is unacceptable

80% think it's unacceptable to test cosmetics on animals

56% of Australians would consider becoming vegan due to reasons including:

• evidence that farming practices cause stress and pain for milions of animals every year
• evidence they can be healthy on a vegan diet
• evidence that being vegan is better for the environment
• if there were more vegan menu items in cafes or restaurants

The negative aspects are:

Of the 1202 people surveyed across Australia, only 5% said they were vegetarian and 1% said they were vegan

While 5% of people claimed to be vegetarian, only 2% actually ate a vegetarian diet

And of the 1% who claimed they were vegan, only 1 person actually ate a vegan diet

This brings up quite a few issues to me:

• WHY if there are so many people (99%) against cruelty to animals do people still participate in cruelty towards animals?
• Do people actually know about the MANY aspects of cruelty involved with animal production?
• Do people care or are people blissfully ignorant?
• WHAT do people think the meaning of being a vegetarian is?
• WHAT do people think the meaning of being a vegan is?

Something is obviously being lost in the translation...

So just to clarify:

A VEGAN is someone who does not consume ANY animal products or by-products (this includes honey), for food, clothing or other purposes

A VEGETARIAN is someone who does not consume ANY animal flesh of any kind (this includes fish and other water animals) but may eat milk/dairy products and eggs.

If 99% of the people surveyed are AGAINST animal cruelty, then WHY do:

98% of Australians eat animals (including water animals?)

98% eat milk/dairy products and eggs?

94% eat chickens and other birds?

88% eat fish, prawns and other water animals?

74% eat honey, royal jelley or other bee products?

In my humble opinion the biggest things I believe we need to address are EDUCATION as to how the animal industries are cruel, and we all know that animals don't just magically appear dead, cut and heated in front of us to consume... don't we?

We also need to be educating others to what exaclty is a vegan and what exactly is a vegetarian, as people just seem to think that it's some sort of accessory that you pick to go with whatever outfit you are wearing or whatever event you are attending.

A LOT of work, education, tolerance and leading by example is needed to address these issues above. 

Who is willing to be part of the next phase of the vegan lifestlye with me?!

Green Earth Festival is a free, family orientated, community event which aims to stimulate awareness by bringing environmental, green, health and lifestyle, cruelty-free, recycling and sustainable issues into the public eye; encouraging people to make simple changes in their everyday lives to help our environment and the world we leave for generations to come.

Music 10am-8pm, Stalls 10am-6pm, Kids’ Zone 10am-4pm

The festival will comprise live bands/performers, a second stage for demonstrations and speakers, a food zone, children’s zone, video zone, art and fashion displays, roving entertainment and many stalls to create a full-filled festival atmosphere strongly supporting the promotion of local grassroots communities, multiculturalism and the Indigenous people and their culture.

I’ve been working on this festival for over a year now.  Slow, small steps in the beginning, just a couple of chats with some friends on exactly what we wanted to achieve, as a group and as a festival.  Now it’s into the gaining momentum quicker and quicker.  It’s a huge learning experience for myself and everyone around me.  I’ve learned that the people who I thought would give me the most support have not.  I have made strong, lifelong, inspiring friendships with people I hadn’t even met this time last year.  I trust my instincts more and don’t listen to the nay-sayers.  

I have always been a positive person and continue to be.  I believe in what I am doing.  I walk my talk.  I believe that the world is changing and will change more and I am thankful that I will be one of the instigators for this change.  I am inspired by all the different types of people I meet who are wanting to embrace the change, who have been waiting in the shadows for a chance to show exactly what they are made of, and who give their best to what they know is right.

This festival has always been about uniting the grassroots communities together to promote change, as these are the people who make the longest-standing changes throughout history.  I’ve been having a lot of interviews lately with magazines, newspapers and more.  People sense the change and they sense that by combining all of the smaller sections into one big group true and inspirational change happens with just one spark of the already-lit flames.  It is powerful and very humbling to be involved in instigating this change.  There are many people who have helped me with the festival, the not-for-profit environmental awareness Green Earth Group Inc, our fundraisers last year and many more who will help out at the festival. To be at the forefront, guiding people who want to help but aren’t exactly sure how, to encouraging them to use their skills, passions and talents to help with these long-coming changes is amazing, true and humbling.

We have volunteers but can always use more.  If you are interested in helping out, please contact me.  There are many ways to help including online promotion through various social networking, event and press release sites, street teams to promote by handing out posters to shops to display, postcards and flyers to people who are interested in coming along to the festival.  There’s also setting up on the day, the day before and helping packing up.  Plus many areas where you can help on the day of the Green Earth Festival.  For all you creative types, we have a creative day on the 6th March where you can come along to help us create signage etc.

Also, you can support us by proudly wearing your merchandise, and monetarily by joining as a paid member or donating to help us with our environmental education with the festival and beyond.   We appreciate any help that you can give and look forward to you being a part of the Green Earth Festival!

See http://www.greenearthfestival.net for more information